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November 2014 Unschooling Thread

3K views 71 replies 16 participants last post by  moominmamma 
#1 ·
This is the "anything goes" thread for chatty anecdotes, ponderings, quick thoughts, sharing of day-to-day stuff and anything else that might not deserve a thread of its own.

What's up with you and yours?

Miranda
 
#2 ·
November is going to be a very busy homeschooling month for us. Nikolas has committed to NaNoWriMo, and set his word count. His plan is to write daily approximately 1 page of handwritten, double spaced work. Erik has just completed testing for dyslexia, and next week I find out what is going on, and whether I will need help for him, and what kind of help that will be. It is also going to be busy with driving my oldest around for band. We also have our meeting with our co-ordinator next week. Erik has decided to do an art project on the book we are reading aloud, and Nikolas wants to show the story he has been working on so far. For math, I was going to check if I could print out a report on their progress in Khan academy. Otherwise they have agreed to do a makeshift "math test". Actually, they are both kind of excited about the idea of doing a math test. This is actually the first time I will actually be showing work to a co-ordinator, so I am a bit nervous. But, of course, they have been doing a lot, and they are used to school, and they are actually a bit excited at the opportunity.
 
#3 ·
My kid is in town(s) all day, job, then working with horse, then job. I would have gone to town, to do the recycling, etc., but need to be home when Middle wants to video chat for her research paper (she types in a Google document and I go a half paragraph behind...that way I can figure out things I can't figure out before she's forgotten what the thing she can't spell and I can't figure out were)...no word yet, except to clean up an Artist Statement for some paintings she's hanging for an exhibition. Husband is "on duty" (cannot leave site until five today or tomorrow, continuing to work on programming language Ada. (I had a stint with that years ago...terrible experience...with a faux compiler that took about 15 minutes per go...never got anything done. But things are different now, and Ada is more robust for things that require real time accuracy, like motion control systems.) It's kinda damp and chilly and windy outside (60F, 60% humid., wind 30mph on the hill, lower at our house but still howling around the eaves), with the sun shining through a thin layer of cloud. The newest cat, a fuzzy six month old foster kitten that we kept for his looks alone, and also because we thought no one would want such a bitey cat, is lying in a bar of sunshine on his tummy, back legs extended, like a rug. Fuzzy cats seem to be able to do that...none of our short haired ones can. I'm pretty sure...

Deborah
 
#4 ·
It's kinda damp and chilly and windy outside (60F, 60% humid.
:) And here we're sitting at 46F in the pouring rain and commenting how spoiled we are that it's still so warm this late in the year!

Today we're painting the new mud room. Fiona chose the colours: a light golden yellow and a light bluish grey to go with the dark slate blue tiles. It's looking welcomingly warm and bright, which was what she was shooting for.

And we're adopting a kitten! More later ... maybe pix!

Miranda
 
#6 ·
Here, we're sitting in several inches of fresh snow (which appeared last night right at trick-or-treating time, to lend credence to the folk wisdom that the snow always shows up at Halloween). The kids were faster into their snowpants/coats this morning than I've ever seen them. I'm excited for winter myself--I think it might stick for good this time, and I'm hoping I didn't leave too many important things out to get buried.
 
#7 ·
Birthday # 1 is over. Work this morning. What *@#$ing time is it? The clock that is supposed to reset itself apparently didn't get the message last night. 5:23 was really 4:23, so I've been awake really since 3:30, not 4:30. Wait. Does that mean I slept 6 hours, or 5? 7? I'm so confused....
 
#8 ·
Folks around here are getting very whiny because it *rained* and dropped down to *55 degrees* (overnight--days are still in the 60's). I hear words like "freezing" and phrases like "trapped in the house" and I ... I look at them like they have two heads. California pansies. I tend to snap at people, "Are you made out of spun sugar? It's water. Go do something. Get out of your house. You will dry later. I promise."

I drag my kids out for runs in the rain. It feels fun. And it really isn't cold. Despite all the whining I hear. I think it is funny.
 
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#9 ·
Ha! My girls don't like to get wet, and that's OK, but it can get absurd sometimes (Western Washington, I mean, really at some point you have to just let it go... :p ) So I say "you may never be a slug, but you are still a Northwesterner, and you are not made out of brown sugar." ("I'm melting! I'm melting!"--isn't there a Wicked Witch Melting emoticon here somewhere? Guess not.) For now it's just the transition period after the rains kick in. In March, it will be because we are weary of being cold and wet all the freakin' time. I'm on the lookout for clear vinyl umbrellas this year. (But we don't use umbrellas here, for the most part-- go figure.)
 
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#13 ·
its cold!!! 70F this am... im soooo happy!!! fall has come to the desert. kid thinks its the artic or something.
November is wrap it up month. College classes are in full swing, planning for spring term classes.
THinking about the holidays. Difficult to wrap my head around the concept that sept and oct are over. It seems like those months are still 'summer' here.
WE dont change time here! one less thing to confuse me= woohoo!

November should finally be fun!
 
#15 ·
zebra15, I would love the end of October when I lived in Las Vegas (in Nevada Halloween is a holiday because it was the day the state was admitted to the Union, so we always had school off). Fall was brilliant. Winter nights were coooold, often freezing there but usually too dry to snow except maybe once a year. I used to get a kick out of the tourists who visited Vegas around Christmas and didn't dress well, often bringing swimming suits for outdoor pools. "But it has palm trees!" Well, yeah, *Mexican palms* that can take freezing weather.
 
#16 ·
Youngest spent yesterday doing her vet job (morning and evening) and in between doing various tasks. After that they went on a house call for a colicky horse, and then she stayed in the guest apartment so she wouldn't have to drive home.

Husband and I had to go to town to get a disk drive for his work, so we took a work vehicle, checked out a stray dog my son and others have been feeding at a roadside park (a woman was trying to entice it while we were there..."I can't take it...I have six animals at home, and a new baby!" so I gave her my contact info if needed...by the time son went to check on it, it was gone), and then husband and I went out for cheap food and I was dropped off at son's apartment. He went on an errand, came back, we talked about the local and state races for the upcoming election. And 6:30 passed (the time she was supposed to be in town), and then 7:30...son took me to the Ultimate field, and there she was. So we went shopping (son's cupboards were almost bare) and got back to the field just as they were finishing the game. She had thought I had wanted her to call AFTER she was done. (Meanwhile I had called home, and the vet...done everything short of calling up a posse...) At home I got this email:

"it was very productive - installed a new windsock, cleaned up some bee equipment, moved some firewood....water heater repairs...She is so cheerful and talkative, it is a joy to have her around. Thanks for letting us have her today!"

which reminded me that other people like the way our kid is "turning out" too!

So tomorrow she goes to town in the morning to observe surgery, and probably will work with a horse in the afternoon. I reminded her that we are supposed to be fitting in some math somewhere... ;)

Deborah

p.s. The at home part of my day was not as much fun...I spent an hour or so checking out all of the possibilities for the cheapest possible plane tickets for middle's visit home for break...I finally found the perfect combination on the dates she needs (almost $200 more expensive than just a few days earlier or later, but still $200 less than last year...had been hoping for a fare war, but time was growing short)...and then realized that the layover time in Chicago was 39 minutes. Likely not doable. And the other option brought her in at 1 a.m. ...we probably wouldn't be home until 6 a.m. So...she's arriving at 5 p.m. at an airport 180 miles away, returning in the afternoon at an airport 190 miles away. We'll still have a four to five hour drive in the dark, but it won't be so horridly late that it totally ruins our next day.

And then...I found an email thanking me for my purchase of travel insurance, which I certainly did not select intentionally, and which did not show up on my ticket bill! Fortunately it was easy to cancel, although the company hid the cancellation link a couple of clicks down.
 
#18 ·
Bummer. I consider it a testament to homeschooling (and to my kids' large personal bubbles, I suppose) that we've only had one bout of lice in one child in the past 20 years. It was a pain, but on the plus side, nit-picking day after day is a lovely chance for self-disclosure, heart-to-heart conversation and just "what's on your mind" meandering interaction. That's what I remember from it.

Miranda
 
#19 ·
Oog...lice. I've known a couple of families that have gone through several rounds. I feel for you.

We had an infestation of fleas from the previous occupant of our (almost fully carpeted) house. Up until then we had kept our cats flea free (at that time we didn't have dogs) by flea combing them occasionally. But...we were taking dozens of fleas off each cat per day, and the fleas were developing a taste for human blood as well, so we put a stop to it with a couple of applications of Frontline.

I once thought my kid had lice...we were on a camping trip...I bought the RID at the grocery store...it seemed like people in front and back of us at the checkout line drew back in revulsion. After looking more closely at kid's head, I decided it wasn't lice after all, and (amidst more shame) returned the unused treatment back to the store. If we hadn't been starving students who really could but the eight bucks to a better use...it would have gone discreetly on some giveaway table. Or been conveniently "forgotten" somewhere.

While we're on the subject of pests, my dh is terrified of bedbugs (some of our professional colleagues got some in a hotel in El Paso and imported them to the sleeping accommodations on site here, which has of course reinforced his fear) so when we (very rarely) have no other choice than a motel/hotel, we take in only the clothes needed & our tootbrushes and stuff, and then we shake it all out before taking it back to the car. We'd never get them out of our house.

Deborah
 
#20 ·
I was so thick about it, too. Two weeks she has been complaining of an itchy head, and we were both just thinking "dandruff". So last night I check her scalp to see what I see and I see all these nits. Gah! What was I thinking?? I could have been dealing with this already.

Busyness is mostly over as far as birthdays and chicken meetings and all that. The potter comes back to our girl scout meeting this Wednesday to help us finish our pieces. Getting some many necessary tasks crossed off my list. Dropping my now-8yo's Declaration of Intent to Homeschool into the mail today, so I now officially have 2 homeschoolers. Feels a bit anticlimatic compared to just keeping them from kindy.

Damn, my hair itches just thinking about those suckers. I hope I don't have them. I curl up with her some nights, so I probably do. Harumph. Got lice as a hippie back in the day. Not fun, but at least it's not scabies, which we mysteriously got a few years ago. At least I can see the lice, which maybe shouldn't ease my concern at all but somehow it does. And they die more quickly when deprived of their food than scabies do. And yes, way better than bedbugs!

Now I'll have all of you ladies itching as well. Sorry.

And I thought since we're all on a first name basis that I'd sign off with mine. Some of you would know it if you've ever pm'ed me.

Sarah
 
#22 ·
Youngest and I have a math date today. She and big dog came in from an excursion in the fog...it rolled into the valley at 9 a.m. (as I was walking home with Big Dog) and has now raised enough to be very low clouds. We're not getting a lot of rain..just enough to wet the porch every time it dries off. Yesterday she didn't get back until well after dark because she helped feed the horses...I had asked her to get back by dark. It takes almost an hour and a half to get from there to here in the dark, even though the distance is a bit over 40 miles, of which about 25 miles of that is no-passing zones: blind hills, twists, rises, drops, with a 1,700 foot rise in elevation, with more than half of that in the last five miles. Of course it's possible to do solo...but both husband and I prefer to try to always have two sets of eyes in the car, to avoid the critters, and to avoid the illegal/impatient passers (from both ahead and behind). A couple of years ago I simply did not see the elk standing in the middle of our lane...but my middle kid did. (Other animals that would destroy our Corolla (the rest of the way) are deer, feral hogs, javelina, antelope, aodad We also have the occasional bear, mountain lion, and Mexican Wolf, although. Although we've seen lions on the road, they're so shy that they're seldom "in range".) Almost every year there's at least one horrific head on collision that results in fatality (amazing when you consider the low population). When my kid didn't call me on Sunday night as agreed (she thought I meant AFTER Ultimate was over) one thing that my friend the vet didn't tell me when I called to find out when she'd left there, was that his wife, an EMT, had just responded to a three car crash. So...I really don't want her driving solo after dark. And I really don't want to stand in the way of her pursuing her interests as far as possible, and that includes being a Useful Engine with her riding mentor. So...I guess it's probably more trips to town for me.

Deborah
 
#23 ·
Youngest and I have a math date today.
What does a math date entail for you? Actual instruction? Casual oversight? Cheerleading? Just curious about the nature of the relationship and the style of interaction.

I had a music theory date today with my kid. A month or so ago we started puttering through a giant cast-off workbook of music theory. She was wanting to fill in some gaps in her understanding of the theory behind all the music notation she's become familiar with in a sort of organic fashion. In one of those fortuitous alignments of the stars, one of the first times we sat down and talked about how music notation and nomenclature works, I taught her about relative majors and minors, and at her violin less not two hours later her teacher asked her a question which she was able to answer thanks to the work we'd done. She was thrilled. But while it's thorough, the book we've been using is very old-school, concerned very much with the physical act of writing notes on the staff. These days that's usually done on a computer, with much better results, so we wanted something a little less concerned with drawing perfect ovals and flags and beams and double-sharp symbols, something more interactive. We asked the DL program to purchase a music theory software package called "Musition." It seems to do a pretty good job of teaching the actual music theory and does so within the multi-media context of the sound it represents. So when you click on G to raise it to a G# in an a harmonic minor scale, you can actually hear what the change does to the pattern of pitches.

We got the software today, and Fiona was keen to get started. She went with Level 1, to make sure she had no gaps, so she's flying through it since everything is review. She wanted me to watch her work in case she had trouble, but after a few minutes she sent me way and I made a double batch of blueberry muffins instead.

The dance studio is on a mid-term break, so our extra-curricular load is lighter this week. Starting to think about winter. Siblings home for holidays.

Here's a photo of Leopold Leopoldovich, Leo for short. So wonderful to have a fuzzball around.



A couple of nights ago I invited my two "fledged" kids (now 20 and 18) to post updates on the extended-family Facebook group. They came through in a big way, posting lengthy updates about all facets of their lives. Reading through what they wrote I felt a tremendous sense of pride and peace knowing how strong and capable they've become.

Miranda
 
#24 · (Edited)
A "math date" is as close to formal instruction as we get...one on one, the two of us, pencil & paper nearby. We skipped yesterday (too much going on, even with the rain that started at noon and hasn't stopped yet), but it's 38F this morning...got up to 40F before sunrise, as the forces of Cold & Hot battle for supremacy) and so Horse in Town in the Cold and Wet is being skipped, even though five degrees warmer, it's not enough to be enticing, the tack having been all been made shipshape in previous storms.

Today is a town afternoon: violin (2 lessons), horse, Ultimate. I'm introducing a new 10-year old student who still has some issues about my role (she's in charge!) with a 9-yo that spent a couple of years running off on tangents and slacking before she decided it was time to fly. So I'm hoping a dose of peer pressure and some fun duets will help redirect the new student. (There's nothing unexpected going on here, just the usual lack of focus and second guessing of my approach...she's quite a pleasant and bright child...it's just that, as an unschooler, I expect MORE! haha...)

Deborah
 
#25 ·
So my husband was cleaning out our office and came across our now little used dictionary. It has quite a story behind it but basically it is the dictionary he used as a young person. He came out and told my 6 year old son the story behind it and gave it to him to use and safeguard until his little brother (only 1 1/2) is old enough to use it to. To my surprise he has really been enthralled with it. Every time we sit down to read over the last few days he runs to get it so we can look up words he doesn't know. And of course those definitions have words he doesn't know so we end up looking up those words and so on. It is quite a process! And when not doing this he will often grab it and just open it randomly to look at the small illustrations and often ask me what they are.

Now on to the funny story. This evening my older son and husband were doing something in the living room while my younger son was busy at the table with the Connect Four game and I did dishes. My husband had to attend to something so my older son came in to me. He grabbed a snack and then as he walked past me and headed for the little guy I said, "I would recommend that you just walk on past him without saying anything or making a move towards any of his game." (They had earlier been a bit off and not playing so well and I really wanted to finish the dishes without major interruption.) For once he said okay and went into the living room. A minute later he troops back in with his dictionary and says "I want to know what recommend means." Well, okay. So we look it up together. Again, he says okay and leaves the room. Another minute passes and he comes back in with his chapter book we are reading and says, "I RECOMMEND that you read me this book." Ha! Dishes are still in the sink. :)
 
#26 ·
Well...today I had a lesson with my new student (10) and and the lesson started off badly enough...student had forgotten shoulder rest at home, so I improvised with violin wiping cloth and rubber bands. I'd brought a tube for her bow (1/2 bow, 1/4 violin...she can't handle the 1/2 violin yet), and that was found acceptable.

But not a lot of focus...was able to complete some tasks, but then started goofing around..."Are you bored"...(embarrassed...no...)....then other (9-yo) student showed up, 100% business, and the first thing I did was start of 10-yo with a basic rhythm on one string, 9-yo with a tune, and me with a harmony. Suddenly the whole dynamic switched...no more work slowdown or irrelevant comments...we got more done in 25 minutes than in all the previous lessons combined, including some simple finger patterns that 10-yo had been giving a really good impression of not being able to learn. (Of course some of the groundwork had been laid in previous lessons.)

Even though 9-yo is smaller and more timid, from the time she entered the room, I treated her as a colleague, and she responded in kind. Afterward, I drove 9-yo to the church I borrow for her lesson, and gave her the 1/2 size violin she is finally big enough to manage (just barely, but her arms are long and the bowing was getting ridiculous on a 1/4 size.) It's a much nicer instrument (a flea market find, a Saxon violin from 100 years or so back), and the look on her face when she realized how much more she will be able to do...was priceless. (I had to tell her that the violin won't always sound as good...almost all of my instruments sound better when the humidity is high, like today...after two or three days of rain. I've been told that violins sound best in the weather they are made in.)

The interesting thing about the 9-yo is this...I've taught her for two or three years, and the dad has never thought she was doing very well...he'd tell the mom "she sounds terrible"...and I'd tell the mom that she was doing precisely as I expected and that she would get to a point where she would fly. The mom would tell me that she was frustrated because the dad never heard us playing together. So one day the dad was the one who brought her to her lesson (they now live 90 miles away, so we have lessons in person every other week, with a couple of short lessons on Facetime in between to keep the practicing going), and we played a twin fiddle version of "Red Wing", which 9-yo adores. And Dad...got the most lovely smile on his face and said "that was beautiful", and 9-yo told me later "I'm so happy...my dad NEVER smiles like that". So now the whole family is on board (with my approach, whatever that is), and a little sister will be starting lessons in the spring.

The family started homeschooling this year (K12 I think, some online program anyway) because their new town's public school system is a very very poor fit...9-yo was at least 2 years ahead in every subject when they moved there last year. So I've been giving mom stuff from my homeschool library...of the three she returned this week, she loved David Albert's "have fun, learn stuff, grow", for the idea that children will excel and learn what is needed by doing what they love. I guess now I'm recruiting for the dark side.

So I guess that's all...got carried off on a tangent. As ever.

Deborah
 
#27 ·
My 5yo has gotten very excited about cooking on his own at dinner lately. At first he tried a few different things. Now, every time, he makes a fritatta with eggs, kale, grated carrot, sun dried tomato, dill, salt, and cheese. Even picks his own kale for it. I think he really enjoys feeling totally competent and not needing to ask me how to do things (other than occasionally reaching stuff, and putting a heavy pan into the oven). It's so cute to see him proudly serving his dish onto everyone's plate at dinner time.

But his biggest obsession right now is chemistry. Chemistry videos, exploring the periodic table, building molecules with one of those sets for college students, modeling nuclear fission and fusion on the floor, reactions in test tubes, etc... He enjoys lecturing us on all of this, and stumps us with bedtime questions like "why don't the electrons fall into the nucleus if they're attracted to the protons?" and "would it work to create fission by shooting protons at a nucleus, instead of neutrons?" I really enjoy his serial obsessions--he's adorably enthusiastic about each super-obscure fact he learns, and I've learned quite a bit from each one of them.

My 3yo is sloowly learning that she needs to wear winter clothes--even if they're not 'pretty enough.' From the library today, I brought home a stack half-full of my son's dense science books, and half-full of the pinkest frilliest picture books my daughter could find.
 
#28 ·
Oh, lord, save me from this neverending cycle of combing and laundry and television. I've just now figured out the trick of gettng nits out of dd9's fine hair (it's not damp like the INSTRUCTIONS SAY :bang. Getting it all done with two girls and me, all with long hair and frequently cosleeping, which is going to have to stop. I am combing through hair half of every waking day. We are now watching Ferris Bueller's Day Off for the third time, watch Defenders of Berk, all 20 episodes, and are halfway through the second trip through. Breaks mean eating, switching laundry, fitting in some yoga and then going back to combing because dd9's case was bad bad bad (comes with letting kids take over the grooming process that it got so bad) and dd8 has ACRES AND ACRES OF HAIR which barely even fits through a @#$%^! nit comb.

Oh to have boys or tomboys right now. As it is, Hair Is Sacred. But I know how they feel. I won't even cut my hair, but I still might because my hair is fragile at best as it getting trashed with all this treatment.

Other things are going on, but they are like a short waking before redescending into a nightmare. I think we had an awesome girl scout meeting last night.... but it's all rather foggy....
 
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